A Loan For Debt Consolidation Allows You To Pay Several Creditors With One Simple Payment

Paring Down Payments

A Debt consolidation loan is the creation of one new loan for the purpose of paying off all other current loans and credit card debts.

A loan for debt consolidation allows you to pay several creditors with one simple payment. A debt consolidation is considered a personal loan.

The primary purpose behind debt consolidation borrowing is to lower your interest rate while providing the debtor with a monthly payment she or he can afford. It also prevents an adverse affect to the debtor's credit rating as well as keeping assets from risk.

A debt consolidation loan may be well advised for someone who is having a difficult time making monthly payments on current loans that carry a high rate of interest. The additional benefit of debt consolidation is that the consolidation eliminates the debtor's contact with the various creditors. This stops collection calls and correspondence.

What you'll need to qualify for a loan for debt consolidation:

* A written budget, showing each month's expenses and income.

* Proof that you have a steady source of income adequate for the repayment of the debt consolidation loan. Pay stubs and/or tax forms would suffice.

* You may need proof of collateral, such as home equity documents or car title.

* You might also need a co-signor if your credit is not adequate.

You can pay off a wide variety of debts and loans with a debt consolidation arrangement. Eligible bills include medical, credit card, retailers, personal loans, student loans and even checks returned for insufficient funds.

Before considering a debt consolidation there are several factors you should weigh. They are:

* Fees involved in consolidation. While a small fee is common, reputable debt consolidation firms will not claim to reduce the amount of debt you owe nor will they charge you a substantial upfront commission to do so.

* The consolidation interest rate. What you want is a fixed rate loan and a rate that is lower than the average rate of your current debt.

* Consolidation loan payments. You'll want a monthly payment that is lower than the combined payments of the current debt, although this should not be accomplished by any considerable lengthening of the repayment time.

* Whether your credit rating will be negatively affected. If the consolidation firm is not clear on this, go elsewhere.

As part of your debt consolidation loan consideration you'll want to look realistically at your total debt, determining exactly the amount you'll need to borrow for consolidation. You should also contact all lenders and see if any will offer a settlement (keeping in mind that payoff off a settlement figure rather than total debt may negative affect your credit rating.)

Your next step would be to put down on paper your monthly budget, including all your expenses as well as your income. Do not neglect to give yourself some leeway – a small emergency or miscellaneous cost figure. Take a good hard look at what you can afford to repay if you borrow for consolidation.

Debt consolidation advantages:

* You can save money by decreasing the interest rate you are paying, which in turn decreases your monthly debt consolidation loan payment.

* You will only have one loan to worry about paying each month.

* You'll only have one creditor to focus on, which means the others will not be contacting you.

Debt consolidation disadvantages:

* You're probably going to be extending the time period in which you are paying your debtors, thus increasing the total cost over time.

* You may have to offer your home or your vehicle or other significant properties as collateral. This puts them at risk should you default.

Basic Information on Credit Card Debt Consolidation

Debt consolidation allows you to speed up the time for paying off your debts with lower monthly bills. Should you opt for credit card debt consolidation, you can expect to pay off your current debts in three to six years. However, keep in mind that terms and conditions can change in a debt consolidation plan.

Types of Debt Consolidation Loans

Different types of debt consolidation loans are available to you, depending on your ability to pay. For instance, there are debt consolidation loans that you can pay off in a short amount of time at lower interest rates. There are debt consolidation loans that you can pay off in a longer amount of time but at a higher interest rate.

The interest rates of debt consolidation loans are also variable. For instance, with a variable rate debt consolidation loan, you can make extra repayments anytime without extra cost. However, with a fixed rate debt consolidation loan, you can only pay fixed repayments for the duration of the loan.

Go with the Lowest Available Interest Rate

Many consolidation loan applicants face the problem of not getting the lowest available interest rate. Thus, before signing off with a debt consolidation agency, make sure that the new interest rate on the consolidation loan is indeed lower than the interest rate you are paying to your creditors. Ensure, too, that you can secure your loan with something, such as your house for instance.

To determine if the new interest rate you are being offered on a consolidation loan is indeed better than the current interest rates from your creditors, calculate the interest and fees of your existing accounts. This will give you the total payments you are currently making. Compare this figure with the consolidation loan amount. A good debt consolidation plan will offer you a lower figure.

Tips to Remember When You are Under a Consolidation Loan

As with any type of loan, make timely payments if you are already under a consolidation loan. You should make your credit payments to your consolidation company because they are responsible for dividing the amount and determining how much goes to each of your creditors.

Making payments on time gives your creditors the impression that you are serious about paying off your debts. Avoid delayed payments or worse, skipping them, as this can prompt your creditors to go back to normal collection activities. Even worse, your creditors can put you back on the regular interest rates and fees.

Keep in constant touch with your consolidation representative. Your account may be turned over to a collection agency so it's wise to keep your agent updated regarding any changes on your account. This way your agent can work with you and help you solve any problems that may crop up.

Keep an eye out on the monthly statements sent by your creditors and see if the rates have been reduced. Once you are under a debt consolidation plan, your creditors should stop charging you for late fees. Also make sure that your debt consolidation company is paying your creditors the right amount.

Why Consolidate Debt?

People consolidate debt in order to reduce their monthly payments. With a consolidated loan, financial institutions such as banks and credit unions pay off all of a consumers loans and replace them with a single "consolidated" loan of all the combined debt, usually at a lower, fixed interest rate. Consumers can use consolidated loans to pay of debt on automobiles, credit cards, student loans, medical bills, etc.

If you can't meet your minimum monthly payments, if your loan or loans still have a lot of life left to them, or if you can get a lower, fixed rate, then it may be worth it to consolidate. But there are some questions to ask yourself first: Are you willing to extend the life of your loan in exchange for lower payments? This is typically how financial organizations are able to offer consolidated loans at such lower rates.

Are you ready for a new 20 or 30 year commitment? And most importantly, are you aware that when you consolidate your debt and extend the repayment term, while it reduces your monthly payments, it will actually increase the total dollar amount of interest youÕll pay over the long haul?So ask yourself, how close are you to paying your loans off? It may be more trouble than itÕs worth, and way more costly, to consolidate for a lower rate if you only have a few more years of payments under you existing loans.One of the most common ways to consolidate loans is to use the equity in your home. This can be as risky a venture as it is convenient. To consolidate this way, you would be turning unsecured debt into secured debt. You now have even more to lose than before if you should default on your new consolidated loan. At least with your current loans you donÕt have the items you purchased on your credit card taken away from you. But with a home equity consolidated lender will not hesitate to take your house if you fail to make your payments.

Another type of consolidated loan to beware of is the consolidated loan that offers you an unbelievably cheap interest rate even if your credit is lousy. The catch with this type of consolidated loan is the exorbitant application fee. If you can afford the application fee, you're better off applying that same amount to paying off your debt. Plus, there are so many wolves in sheep's clothing offering these types of consolidated deals, you may never actually see you consolidated loan when all is said and done.With those warnings in mind, it may still be well worth your while to consolidate debt, and to do it sooner than later. For one, the opportunity to consolidate debt may not be around for very much longer. Both congress and the President are considering legislation that could turn fixed interest consolidated loans into variable rate loans, or get rid of consolidated loans altogether.

If you chose not to consolidate your loans, or are unable to for any reason to consolidate, you could also consider having payments automatically deducted from your bank account on a regular basis. While it doesn't lower your expenses like a consolidated loan, it does ensure that your payments are made on time, and it will help you improve your credit score.

Cheap Consolidator Airfares: 7 Sure-Fire Ways To Get Them

Looking for those cheap and rock-bottom international consolidator airfares?

Well, in the diverse world of air travel ticketing, there is no one way to guarantee that you will get the cheapest fares out there but your odds to get discount airfares are certainly many times better if you seek the consolidators tickets rather than the airlines official published airfares.

Remember that discounted consolidator tickets are very much just like a normal published airline fare ticket with the major difference being just that the price is not typically printed on the consolidator tickets.

Airlines basically do not admit they sell discounted tickets to consolidators, which are against the rules anyway and hence explains the no-pricing printout above.

Apart from the cheaper airfares, consolidator tickets have other advantages, usually requiring no advance purchase and no Saturday-night stay (typically for the US market).

In addition, you can normally still get cheap consolidator tickets at short notice unlike the inflated last-minute published air fares that could cost you a fortune.

Even then, you have to make sure you get those reliable consolidators that will offer the best airfare prices, and remember that not all consolidators sell to the general public.

Still, if you want to pay at least 40%-60% cheaper airfares than the guy sitting next to you on the plane, here are 7 sure-fire tips to be able to do just that.

1. Get a reliable travel agent who deals with a range of consolidators if you do not want the hassle of looking and doing the arrangements with the consolidators them.

A trustworthy travel agent is worth his weight in gold to you especially an experienced and knowledgeable one, much more than the small commission they charged nowadays for getting you a really cheap consolidator airfare.

Note that not all licensed travel agent do business with a whole range of wholesale consolidators, so try the specialised ones in the field to ensure you get all the cheap fare options on the table.

For more country-type trips or special itineraries, consider to look for the so-called "ethnic agency" consolidators that deals with only one country or region, since many have contracts with carriers based in the home country, such as Air India or EgyptAir.

2. Check airfares quoted by the travel agent with online discounters or consolidators, especially since these are the ones that you can check as they deal with the general retail public.

Obviously, you have to check the credentials of these companies as there could be many fly by night consolidators which may not have a strong financial background. Some of the strongest online consolidators include names like Onetravel.com, Flights.com, Faremax.com, Airlineconsolidator.com and Airgorilla.com.

3. For reliability, make sure the agents or consolidators are registered with national or international travel authorities such as the American Society of Travel Agents (http://www.travelsense.org) or accreditation with the International Air Transport Association (http://www.iata.org) or the Airline Reporting Corp http://www.arccorp.com).

Note that some unreliable consolidators have known to go bust big time at one point in the past, hence do not go for the cheapest consolidators without checking.

4. You can then check the best consolidators airfares against those specialised online sites that offer cheap airfares on their own. Most of these sites basically aggregate deals from the consolidators themselves like Hotwire.com and Priceline.com but some are the consolidator companies themselves that have evolved to serve the general public.

5. Check out also the aggregators. These are companies that typically scout for low airfares and then direct you to where to buy them. Some of these aggregators include Cheapflights.com and Kayak.com.

6. Try to be flexible and explore all the options. For example, some wholesale consolidators are also retail tour operators, and their tour package will thus tend be cheaper as they book in bulk for the tickets, hotel rooms and car rentals.

7. Finally, check the consolidators cheapest pricing against that of the airlines themselves. Most of the time, you will find that the consolidators offer you the cheapest airfares available.

However, on some occasions, the airline published airfares could actually be cheaper especially where there are intense price wars in a particular market or there are new promotions to attract demand for a new route or market.

These could cause the airlines to break their pact with the consolidators and charge even lower fares than the latter.

Consolidator airfares are now part and parcel of the airline ticketing industry and like it or not, consolidators are probably the best option you need to explore to get cheaper airfares.

Student Loan Consolidation: Few Points to Remember

Nowadays, education has become quite an expensive thing and if you don't have higher degrees then there is no job for you. Any firm or company looks for more educated person who can efficiently run their institution. But as the education expenses are increasing now and then, many deserving candidates are not able to join higher studies. Many apply for loans and they get it easily but after that they have to pay heavy amount of money as interests. Some times, students take loans from different lenders and they have to pay monthly installments to all of them. For them  student loan consolidation is a way to reduce their burden and concentrate on their studies.

What is student loan consolidation?

If you go by the name, consolidation suggests that all your loans will be paid by one company only. Student loan consolidation allows the students to combine all their loans from various lenders into one and pay only one interest amount and that too at a reduced new rate. After consolidation, students will have to pay only one monthly installment to that company and thereby gets relieved from the headache of multiple installments and higher interest rates. 

Make a decision whether to consolidate or not

If you need to consolidate student loan then carefully observe the pros and cons of the consolidation. Before going for student loan consolidation, think about the factors given below:

1.    In the consolidation process, all your loans are treated as single and have fixed interest rates. Whether the rate increases or decrease, it is not going to affect you. So, if the rates are going to plummet, it is better for you to wait and watch.

2.    Make sure that you can consolidate student loans as you can avail consolidation for most federal loans which includes FFELP loans, Perkins, NSL, Guaranteed student loans, FISL, Health Professional Student loans, HEAL, and direct loans.

3.    Remember that consolidation extends the loan term due to which overall you have to pay more even if the rate is low.

4.    Consolidating all the loans is not a good idea because the rate of interest is fixed after finding out the average of all the interest rates and you may like higher rate loan to be out of the consolidation.

Follow following steps before going student loan consolidation

1.    Gather information regarding your loans' status.

2.    It is mandatory for you to avail consolidation facility from the already associated lenders.

3.    Credit checking is not required so be cautious if any lender asks for such formalities.

Profits from student loan consolidation

1.    Multiple loans are converted into single loan.

2.    It reduces monthly installments by a considerable amount which can range up to 50%.

4.    Improves your credit ranking and is easy to pay monthly installments.

5.    No checking of credit, no origination or application charges.

Hence, student loan consolidation is a great option for a life free of debts. But the actual task is yours i.e. to find a loan consolidator according to your requirements and hit the consolidation interest loan rate student .

What Types of Debt Can be Consolidated?

A debt consolidation program is sometimes necessary to help a person recover from his debts more easily and quickly. Nevertheless, not all types of debt can be consolidated. In this article, let's discuss the different types of debt that one can enroll in a consolidation program. But first, let us define what debt consolidation is.

Defining Debt Consolidation

Credit Solutions of America, Inc.There are two types of debt consolidation program. One is a debt consolidation loan wherein the borrower obtains a loan to pay off all his existing debts to his creditors. Afterwards, he will be subjected to submit a monthly payment to his loan consolidation lender for a lower interest rate.

The other type of debt consolidation program is where the borrower submits his payments to a debt consolidation company. In turn, the debt consolidation company will distribute his payments to creditors as needed. Here, debts with the highest rates are most likely to get paid first to avoid accumulating charges.

For credit card debt, getting a zero balance transfer credit card is another way to consolidate. In this case, a borrower can transfer his existing balances to a zero interest credit card to avoid the additional interest fees. This enables the credit card holder to save money and focus on paying off only the original amount of his debt.



Debts that Can Be Consolidated

Generally, any type of unsecured debt such as personal loans, student loans, medical bills, and credit card debt can be consolidated. These debts are not guaranteed and no collateral has been submitted to the lender. On the other hand, secured debts like mortgages and car loans are not eligible for a debt consolidation program. This is because lenders can use the collateral submitted to them as payment for the debts defaulted.

Moreover, you can consolidate your credit card debt without the need of debt consolidation agency. If your problem is a result of unpaid balances from different credit card accounts, you can apply for a zero interest credit card instead. Getting a balance transfer card is a lot easier than acquiring a debt consolidation loan. Once approved, all you need to do is move over your existing balances to your new credit card and pay off your debts within the zero interest time period.

With a debt consolidation program, the consolidation company would try to negotiate with your creditors to waive some fees or ask for new repayment terms. Most creditors are willing to waive fees or set new repayment terms especially if it looks like the borrower may consider bankruptcy.

When consolidating, it's important to make sure that you're dealing with a reputable and legitimate consolidation company. Take note, that some companies offering consolidation services may take advantage of your financial situation. It's important to check the company's track record and policies especially when it comes to submitting your payments. Check directly from your creditors whether they are receiving your payments from the debt consolidation company on time.

Finally, whether you choose to get a balance transfer credit card or apply for a debt consolidation loan, the key to being free from debts is to submit your payments on schedule. Once you've consolidated your debts, you need to make sure that you won't miss or delay a single payment to your lender.

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Student Loan Consolidation Rate in Federal and Private Consolidation

Students and their parents can use student loan consolidation that will allow them combine their education loans into one loan from a single lender. That new loan - consolidation loan - will be then used to pay off the balances of the originating loans.

The process of consolidating student loans is similar to refinancing a mortgage. It's a great way to improve own finances as it gives the borrower a number of benefits, such as: lower monthly payment, lower interest rate, longer repayment schedule, lack of application fees and of credit check as well as deferment and forbearance options.

Not all of those benefits are available in every consolidation loan; which of them a borrower receives depends on whether he or she takes a federal or private consolidation loan. While both federal and private consolidations provide similar results with regards to lowering monthly payments and longer repayment schedules, there are significant differences regarding the interest rates and deferment and forbearance options.

In this article I will discuss the issue of the student loan consolidation rate and how it is determined in federal and private consolidation.

First of all, it's important to remember that usually it is not a good idea to include any of your federal education loans if you decide to take a private student consolidation loan. Why? For two main reasons. First, doing so may increase your effective interest rate and second, you will most likely lose a number of important borrower benefits, such as: flexible repayment terms, generous loan forgiveness, deferment, forbearance and cancellation provisions. In most cases, they don't come with private student consolidation loans.

Interest rate is always among the most important factors in every loan as it determines the cost the borrower pays to the lender for using the money being borrowed. The higher the interest rate, the longer the total cost of taking the loan will be. Also, getting a fixed interest rate is preferable to a variable rate, as it is just much easier to live with the fixed rate and not to worry that it may significantly go up and negatively impact your financial well being.

Many people believe that all student loan consolidations - both federal and private - result in a fixed-interest rate loan. However, it's only true for the federal student loan consolidations, but in most cases the private consolidations don't feature fixed interest rates. Because the private consolidation loans belong to the consumer loans, they are credit-based and have to carry variable interest rates.

To the contrary, all federal student consolidation loans carry a fixed interest rates, because they are taxpayer-supported. They are government-funded and policed by the Department of Education (ED). Some of them are also directly provided by the ED; they are called "Direct Loans". Those federal consolidation loans are based on government programs and not only the federal Direct Consolidation Loans (Direct Loans), but also the federal loans provided by private lenders under the FFELP (Federal Family Education Loan Program) follow the same formula for determining the fixed interest rates. That formula is simple - the fixed interest rate on a federal student consolidation loan is calculated as the weighted average of the interest rates on all loans that get consolidated. The result is then rounded up to the nearest 1/8th of a percent and capped at 8.25% (i.e. the federal loan interest rate can't be higher than 8.25%). The fixed interest rate means that it is locked in for the whole term of the consolidated loan; it makes the life of the borrower much less stressful than that of somebody that has to take a private consolidation loan.

On the other hand, interest rates in most of the private consolidation loans are variable - they change during the length of the loan, according to the changes in the base. Those bases differ from loan to loan, but the lenders usually choose one of these - either the Prime Rate or the 3-month LIBOR Rate. The second one has been significantly lower over the last few years, thus it's more advantageous for the borrowers. The lenders arrive at the final interest rate by adding a margin determined by the borrower's credit rating.

There are a few ways available to the borrowers to bring down the consolidation loan interest rate and they are available in both federal and private consolidations. For example, you can get a 0.25% instant rate reduction when you agree to have your monthly loan payments direct-debited from your bank account. Later on, you may also earn another interest rate reduction if you continually make on-time monthly payments for a certain number of months (e.g., 24, or 36, or 48 months).

Any interest rate reduction will usually mean thousands of dollars in savings, so try as much as you can to use all opportunities to earn those reductions and save a lot of money.

What to be Aware of When Considering Student Loan Consolidation - Recent Implications

Student consolidation loans are among the most popular refinancing loans as they make repayment of the education loans easier to handle. Those loans are in high demand because they offer important benefits. Some of those benefits are available with both federal and private student consolidations, but some come only with the federal consolidations.

It's important to know that private education loans can't be consolidated into federal consolidation loan, but there are private lenders - not too many, though - that offer private consolidation of those private student loans.

Private consolidation loans can include federal education loans, however, including those federal loans in a private consolidation loan is usually not desirable for a number of reasons. For instance, with private consolidation, you will lose important, generous benefits of the federal loans, such as flexible repayment terms and loan forgiveness and cancellation provisions. Private consolidation will often increase your effective interest rate and you will pay much more to serve your education debt - even though you'll get lower monthly payments.

For those reasons, it's recommended to seek federal consolidation loan first and only if you can't get one, look for a private consolidation.

However, private lenders aren't recently willing to consolidate student loans as they were some years ago. For two main reasons - first, the global credit crisis and second, the law passed recently by the Congress that significantly reduced the subsidies for providing education loans (including student consolidation loans).

The recent credit crunch debacle made the private lenders tighten their lending standards for the prospective borrowers applying for the student consolidation loans. The applicants need now higher credit scores and higher income. By the way, checking those is another important difference between federal and private consolidations. You will not be subject to any credit check and income-level test when asking for a federal student consolidation loan. On the other hand, it's an important part of the private consolidation process - your credit rating will have significant impact on the interest rate you'll get. Therefore, it determines the total amount you'll have to repay when you take the consolidation loan.

According to credit business sources, in order to be eligible for a private student consolidation loan and get an interest rate that will make the consolidation worthwhile, you will need a FICO credit score of 700 - at least 50 points higher than it was just a few years ago. Moreover, the private lenders require now your debt-to-income ratio to be much lower than 50%.

So what should you do if you really need to consolidate your student loans see the private consolidation loan as your only chance? Well, in order to improve your chance of getting one, you could use a co-signer, for example your parents, or somebody who has good credit rating.

Finally, it's important to mention here some drawbacks that the borrowers who take student consolidation loans face.

First of all, if your main reason for seeking consolidation is to lower your monthly payments, you have to remember that while your monthly payments will be lower (sometimes by as much as 50%) and your finances will be simpler because you'll have only one monthly payment, it will all come at higher cost. Why? Because you will have to be stuck with the loan for longer period of time, as the lower payments require longer repayment and the total amount of the interest paid will be higher.

Here are some other issues to remember. If you take the consolidation loan, your grace period will often be shortened and you may also lose loan discounts provided by the originating lenders. Also, you may have to repay a fee waiver or rebate that you got from those lenders. And, if you have a Perkins loan, usually it is better to leave it alone and not consolidate it as Perkins loans have important benefits not found in other loans and they would be lost in consolidation.

Student Loan Consolidation - How does it Work?

Student Loan Consolidation - How does it Work? Student loans are a great source of financial aid for students who need help paying for their education. Unfortunately, students often leave college with burdensome debt. In addition, they often have multiple loans from different lenders, meaning they are writing more than one loan repayment check each month. The solution to this problem is loan consolidation.

What is loan consolidation? Loan consolidation means bundling all your student loans into a single loan with one lender and one repayment plan. You can think of loan consolidation as akin to refinancing a home mortgage. When you consolidate your student loans, the balances of your existing student loans are paid off, with the total balance rolling over into one consolidated loan. The end result is that you have only one student loan to pay on.

Both students and their parents can consolidate loans.

Should I consolidate my loans? Loan consolidation offers many benefits:

-Locks in a fixed, usually lower, interest rate for the term of your loan, potentially saving you thousands of dollars (depending on the interest rates of your original loans) -Lowers your monthly payment -Combines your student loan payments into one monthly bill

In addition, consolidated loans have flexible repayment options and no fees, charges, or prepayment penalties. There are also no credit checks or co-signers required.

You should consider consolidating your loans if the consolidation loan would have a lower interest rate than your current loans, particularly if you are having trouble making you monthly payments. However, if you are close to paying off your existing loans, consolidation may not be worth it.

How will the interest rate for the consolidated loan be? The interest rate for your consolidated loan is calculated by averaging the interest rate of all the loans being consolidated and then rounding up to the next one-eighth of one percent. The maximum interest rate is 8.25 percent.

To figure your interest rate, visit loanconsolidation.ed.gov for an online calculator that will do the math for you.

How much can I save? How much you save by consolidating loans depends on what interest rate you get and whether you choose to extend your repayment plan. According to Sallie Mae, the leading provider of student loans in the United States, consolidating student loans can reduce monthly payments by up to 54 percent. However, the only way to reduce your payment this much is to extend your repayment plan. You typically have 10 years to repay student loans, but, depending on the amount you're consolidating, you can extend your repayment plan all the way up to 30 years. Remember that if you choose to extend your repayment term, it will take longer to pay off your overall debt and you'll pay more in interest. There are no preypayment penalties, so you can always choose to pay off the loan early.

Am I eligible to consolidate my loans? In order to consolidate your loans, you must meet the following criteria:

- You are in your six-month grace period following graduation or you have started repaying your loans -You have eligible loans totaling over $7,500 -You have more than one lender -You have not already consolidated your student loans, or since consolidation you have gone back to school and acquired new student loans

The following types of loans can be consolidated:

-Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans -Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans -Direct PLUS Loans and Federal PLUS Loans -Direct Consolidation Loans and Federal Consolidation Loans -Guaranteed Student Loans -Federal Insured Student Loans -Federal Supplemental Loans for Students -Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students -Federal Perkins Loans -National Direct Student Loans -National Defense Student Loans -Health Education Assistance Loans -Health Professions Student Loans -Loans for Disadvantaged Students -Nursing Student Loans

Where can I get a consolidation loan? You can consolidate your loans through any bank or credit union that participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, or directly from the U.S. Department of Education. The loan terms and conditions are generally the same, regardless of where you consolidate. You may want to check first with the lenders that hold your current loans.

If all your loans are with one lender, you must consolidate with that lender.

If you decide to consolidate your student loans, remember that you can only do so once unless you go back to school and take out more loans. Therefore, you will want to make sure you get the best deal the first time. The interest rate will be the same from all lenders, but some lenders may offer future rate discounts for prompt payment and a discount for having monthly payments directly debited from your account.

Can my spouse and I consolidate our loans together? You can consolidate your loans together, but it is not a good idea for a couple reasons:

-Both of you will always be responsible to repay the loan, even if you later separate or divorce -If you need to defer payment on the loan, both of you will have to meet the deferment criteria

When should I consolidate my loans? You can consolidate your loans any time during your six-month grace period or after you have started repaying your loans. If you consolidate during your grace period, you may be able to get a lower interest rate. However, since you will lose the rest of the grace period, it is a good idea to wait until the fifth month of the grace period before consolidating. The consolidation process usually takes 30-45 days.

This article is distributed by NextStudent. At NextStudent, we believe that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and we're dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding as easy as possible. We invite you to learn more about how to get Student Loan Consolidation at http://www.NextStudent.com .

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